We’re back this week with laments of last week’s disastrous attempted episode, and some devastating news from the film world, as we say goodbye to a much beloved cinematic canine. We chat about Aaron Sorkin’s latest project and Edward Norton’s controversial comments about the Academy Awards, plus this month’s Red Light District brings rapturous word about a French model-turned-actress and some rare positivity concerning Neil Diamond. The week’s reviews include Judd Apatow-helmed “Trainwreck,” desert-set thriller “Beyond the Reach,” Nanni Moretti’s meditiative drama “Mia Madre,” and Joel Edgerton’s directorial debut, “The Gift,” plus Jeremy Irvine’s physique wins points from Cal, Tilda Swinton’s stylist wins points from Pete, and LeBron James’ appearance in one of the week’s films wins (off-the-court) points all round.

The week’s news

Opening Segment: This month’s Red Light District, featuring discussion of “Blind Date,” “Death of a Salesman,” “Empire of Passion,” “The Jazz Singer,” “Love in the Afternoon,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “That Is the Dawn,” and “Walk on the Wild Side”!

Aside from digressions about Meryl Streep’s huge haul of Oscar nominations, and a Joe Wright rant about Ron Howard’s Oscar win, this week’s half-century edition is reasonably tight. The effervescent presence of Baz Luhrmann dominates, as we take a retrospective look at his work before discussing his latest picture, “The Great Gatsby.” We tackle a listener question concerning films booed at Cannes, specifically referencing the work of Michelangelo Antonioni, Martin Scorsese, and David Lynch. We launch into a review of comedic thriller “The Liability,” while Pete flies solo for British drama “Flying Blind,” and then we settle down for a Russian double-bill of Sergei Loznitsa’s acclaimed “In the Fog” and Alexey Balabanov’s “The Stoker.” The latter of those leads to a mid-podcast revelation which instigates guilty backtracking, but at least its Spanish-style soundtrack provides a handy accompaniment to this week’s episode.

Listener Question: Our thoughts on the BAM’s Booed At Cannes selection, pondering the reasons why people boo films, and the implications of that [3:35 – 10:30]

This week starts off in morbid fashion as we acknowledge the deaths of some important people, both in the film industry and outside of it, before we look ahead to Kimberly Peirce’s remake of “Carrie,” which triggers guilt in Pete over his lack of appreciation of Julianne Moore on the podcast. Things get more cheerful when we get to the reviews, which include the leafy family offering “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” and Harmony Korine’s colourful “Spring Breakers.” We get gritty with the Aaron Eckhart-led “The Expatriate” while Pete goes it alone for British drama “All Things To All Men,” before the toil of “A Late Quartet” strikes too many chords for one of us. And then we round everything off with a discussion of supernatural thriller “Dark Skies,” where once again actor Josh Hamilton gets mistaken for somebody else. He must have one of those faces…

Opening Segment:Talking about the week’s news: the deaths of Margaret Thatcher, Roger Ebert, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and Richard Griffiths, and the premiere of the new “Carrie” trailer [2:10 – 14:05]